New pesticides regulation: potential economic impacts of the withdrawal of Pendimethalin in horticultural crops

Sol Garcia-German,Alberto Garrido,Isabel Bardaji

doi:10.5424/sjar/2014121-4661

Sol Garcia-German, Alberto Garrido + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2014121-4661

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Abstract

The Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides moves forward towards the sustainability of agriculture fostering the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices in the European Union (EU). EC Regulation 1107/2009 was adopted in this framework leading to the eventual drop in the Vademecum of authorized substances of some important pesticides which are presently used in EU agriculture. Herbicide Pendimethalin will have to renew its registration in 2016 under the new regulation and there is a high probability that it will be removed. In this study we analyze the potential impact of the prohibition of Pendimethalin in two export driven horticultural crops grown in Southeastern Spain - lettuce and celery - to provide an illustration of possible consequences of the loss of certain active substances due to the new regulation. To do so, gross margin stochastic models are developed and used to generate Monte-Carlo simulations to look at farms’ economic results and their production risks. Econometric models are used to examine consumers’ and producers’ surplus in export markets of lettuce and celery. The results show that the Pendimethalin ban might modify the economic risk profile that the farm faces, affecting the crops’ profitability in the short-term. These changes would pass on to markets through shifts in supply and price and finally to European consumers, who would be the major losers.

Highlights

Overall, weeds can produce the highest potential loss (34%), with animal pests and pathogens being less important in the most important world crops (Oerke, 2006)
The Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (COM (2006) 372 final) aims at the promotion of low pesticide farming and obliges producers to cultivate using the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) from 2014 onwards
Baseline: Pendimethalin Alternative scenario: Whithout herbicide from field trials performed by independent research centres and provided by a f irm that markets the herbicide active substance and, from interviews conducted in specific farms whose production is aimed at export markets located in the production area

Summary

Introduction

Weeds can produce the highest potential loss (34%), with animal pests and pathogens being less important (losses of 18% and 16%) in the most important world crops (Oerke, 2006). The Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (COM (2006) 372 final) aims at the promotion of low pesticide farming and obliges producers to cultivate using the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) from 2014 onwards. The goals are to minimize the risks to health and the environment from the use of pesticides and to reduce the use of potentially dangerous active substances through review processes. In this framework, EC Regulation 1107/2009 (OJ, 2009), which regulates the approval of active substances and plant protection products (PPP), was adopted and has replaced the previous regulation since June 2011. The main change of this regulation is that it introduces criteria for cut-off approval based on hazard for active substances according to their intrinsic properties

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